MOMENTA's Junior Company in a ballet based on the Italian Fairytale, "Rosanella".

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MOMENTA's MISSION: To produce and present high quality concerts of dance, music and theatre to diverse audiences – local, metropolitan, state-wide, national and international. To achieve this mission, we have the following goals: to bring our audiences a repertoire of historic dances that exemplify the wealth of our American dance heritage; to provide creative opportunities and employment for Oak Park, River Forest, Forest Park and greater Chicago area dancers, musicians, composers and choreographers to perform in and to create new works; to educate young artists in performing skills, choreography and dance history by giving them opportunities to experience these directly; and to physically integrate our company by including dancers with disabilities in our performances and by presenting new dances by choreographers with disabilities.

MOMENTA is the resident performing arts company of The Academy of Movement and Music in Oak Park. It is, in reality, two companies. The Senior Company is a blended group of seasoned professionals—many of whom are alums of MOMENTA—and our most talented advanced dance students. The Junior Company is a group of talented young dancers still developing their performing skills. Both the Senior Company and Junior Company are physically integrated. The Senior Company's repertory includes historical works by the legends of American Modern Dance – Doris Humphrey, Loïe Fuller, Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis, Martha Graham and Charles Weidman, and by great classical choreographers like Mikhail Fokine, Jules Perrot and Marius Petipa. MOMENTA also has a commitment to contemporary choreography and has commissioned many Chicago area choreographers and musicians for original works – Homer Bryant, Frank Chaves, Ron DeJesus, Randy Duncan, Autumn Eckman, Brian Enos, Anita Fillmore, Sarah Cullen Fuller, Sandra Kaufmann, Ginger Lane, Jon Lehrer, Michelle Manzanales, Cora D. Mitchell, James Morrow, Sarah Najera, Gina Sigismondi, Sarita Smith Childs, and Raphaelle Ziemba. Since 2003, MOMENTA expanded its repertory to include physically integrated works for dancers with disabilities and participated in Bodies of Work, the first Chicago Festival for Disability Arts and Culture. While MOMENTA's home is in Oak Park, the company has performed in festivals in the greater Chicago area, out of state, and internationally. MOMENTA has been featured three times on Channel 11's (WTTW) ArtBeat, and was one of the companies featured in the HMS special on Chicago Dance that also aired on WTTW. MOMENTA's work with dancers with disabilities was featured in a special report by Jim Mullen on WBBM, Channel 2. In 2010, MOMENTA released a video documentary on the life and work of Loïe Fuller, "Dancing in the Light Fantastic," now in national distribution.